HomeMy WebLinkAbout494"The News Advertiser Wed. January 13, 1993
History comes alive
From a fireplace in the valley to royalty on the hill
By HENRY M. GAWMAN Special to the News Advertiser PICKERING - A stone fireplace
stands in the woods, near the west branch of Duffins Creek. This tribute to the
stonemason's skill, is six feet wide, four feet through, and has a stone chimney
extending 12 feet above the earth. Ten minutes to the cast is Valley Farm Rd. At
the top of the rise to the west stands the Jesuit Retreat known as Manresa.
Because there is a fireplace, with rusty flashing, there must have been some form of
habitation. That much is obvious. I can only speculate how the weather-beaten unit came to
be there. A letter I received about the structure proves to be an interesting tale.
The letter was from John Black, son of Morley Black, whose gas station at the corner of
Liverpool and Kingston Roads was a familiar sight in old Pickering. John explained that the
place stands where there had [?] been a cabin. The cabin was built for Victor Ross,
vice-president, Imperial Oil Canada. The executive had owned land in the valley,
and property above, then known as Clarendon Wood.
Turning for a moment to other testimony, a 1934 article in Canadian Homes and Gardens,
by Mary Agnes Tease, describes the setting as: ""A fairy-like place, with log-based steps
descending to the valley. Flowers and ferns were everywhere, and rustic bridges spanned
little, winding streams.""
Mr. Ross, by excavating, and diverting water from the creek, created a small lake.
He gave work to many local men. Mary Agnes Tease describes a replica of a
Hudson's Bay fort as being part of the selling. Though she writes:
""Everything was in complete harmony with the surroundings,"" a local resident remembers
seeing two Chinese junks wrecked on its shores.
On the death of Victor Ross in 1932, his son, Forbes, inherited Clarendon Wood.
After a time the property came into the possession of Brian Newkirk, member of the
Toronto Stock Exchange. In 1949, property and buildings [?] purchased by the Jesuit
setters of Upper Canada, and became the Manresa Retreat.
The neglected cabin became notorious. When young people were not having parties there,
it knew more dangerous occupants. Led to the scene by a local citizen, police found four
escaped convicts, guns and all, hiding inside. The cabin was destroyed by fire before 1960.
Leaving the valley, let's direct our attention to the property above. We have a description of
the scene in 1934: ""A hill, a wood, a stream, a spacious house; flower gardens,
fertile fields, and you have Clarendon Wood.""
The name derives from the Earls of Clarendon. Were it not for the enterprise of English [?]
and Ladies, this area would have known the mark of royalty. In 1912, the land with its
original stone farmhouse was purchased by Lord and Lady Hyde, Lord Somers-cocks,
and Lord Somers. Lord Hyde was 35 years old.
That the titled new owners intended to stay was evident. Their plans included the building of
a mansion, carriage house, riding stable and servants' quarters. They obviously,
intended to live as they had in England, riding to hounds in woods nearby,
and afterwards dressing for dinner, perhaps by candlelight.
A butler may have greeted arriving guests. The cars of wild animals in the valley must have
pricked up at the sound ""of revelry by night"" in the mansion of the Lords.
This didn't happen overnight. The building of the house was a long-term project,
not being ready for occupancy until summer, 1914. In the meantime they apparently lived in
the century-old stone farmhouse on the properly. Nor was the construction without its
problems, according to Mary Agnes Tease.
She imagines that the work must have been ""difficult"" and ""interesting"" as the architect,
familiar with the rigors of the Canadian climate, contested with the Lords,
""who desired to follow English methods in every particular."" Progress was monitored by,
the owners, and other distinguished visitors, such as the Duke and Duchess of Connaught,
and the Princess Patricia.""
The people of Pickering had never known the likes of the goings on at the top of Liverpool
Rd. Lords and Ladies passed before the eyes of plain citizens. The nobility were here,
and may have remained beyond surmise, except for an accident of history.
World War I broke out, and duly called them home. The family had lived only 10 weeks in
their new home. Without delay, they departed for England, never to return.
The property was left in the care of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Warren. In 1922 it was sold to
Mr. Victor Ross.
So the thread of history leads from the fireplace in the valley to the Jesuit Fathers,
to Brian Newkirk, to Victor Ross and his son, to Lord and Lady Hyde and family.
Lord Hyde, upon the death of his father in 1914, became the Sixth Earl of Clarendon.
An obituary in the Globe and Mail, Wednesday, Dec 14, 1955 tells of the death at age 78
of the Earl, who once farmed in Pickering. He was then Lord Chamberlain to King George
the sixth, and former governor-general of South Africa.
The mansion remains, now wearing a coat of while stucco. Despite many alterations,
the original style and character of the place is still apparent.
The Jesuit Father now call Clarendon Wood, Manresa. The name comes from the place in.
Spain where St. Ignatius Loyola, patron of the retreat movement, first went into solitude.
He and six companions formal the Jesuit Order 400 years ago.
When someone kindles a fire in its old-hearth, the fireplace comes alive again.
As the smoke ascends, wistful ghosts on the high ground may drift over the valley to blend
their vaporous forms with the fires of yesterday.
(This article is based on information given by John black, Bill McPherson, Alma Quilty,
(longtime secretary at Manresa) and Mary Agnes Tease, in Canadian Homes and
Gardens, 1934, (courtesy of Father O'Brien).
"